Chicago Priest Defying the Cardinal, Burns The Rainbow Flag Which Was on Display Since1991
A gay-friendly flag, shown here during a 1991 service at
Resurrection Catholic Church, was burned last week by
the Rev. Paul Kalchik (upper right).
A North Side priest who says he “can’t sit well” with Cardinal Blase Cupich burned
a gay-friendly flag outside his Avondale church last week — against the wishes of
the cardinal he claims is trying to minimize the clergy sex-abuse crisis.
Rev. Paul Kalchik says the banner, featuring a cross superimposed over a rainbow,
had been featured prominently in the sanctuary at Resurrection Catholic Church
but had been taken down and was forgotten in storage at the parish at 3043
N. Francisco for more than a decade.
Kalchik led seven parishioners in a prayer of exorcism Friday, and the flag was burned
inside a portable fire pit placed the schoolyard next to the church. The ashes of the
flag now rest in a church compost heap.
“That banner and what it stood for doesn’t belong to the Archdiocese or Cardinal Cupich.
It belongs to the people of this parish who paid for it,” Kalchik said. “What have we
done wrong other than destroy a piece of propaganda that was used to put out a message
other than what the church is about?” Cupich, who has joined Pope Francis in
exuding a more welcoming tone to gays in the Catholic Church, had attempted to stop
Kalchik from burning the flag, instructing Kalchik he “could not move forward with
that planned activity,” Archdiocese of Chicago spokeswoman Anne Maselli said Tuesday.
Maselli said that the archdiocese was “unaware” that the flag-burning occurred,
“and we are following up on the situation. As Catholics we affirm the dignity
of all persons.”
Chris Pett, president of Dignity USA, a Catholic LGBTQ-acceptance organization,
called Kalchik a “renegade priest pushing an extreme agenda.”
“He’s hijacking the parish and trampling on core Catholic values,” Pett said.
“The archdiocese needs to denounce this in the strongest possible terms.”
Flag installed in 1991
Kalchik, 56, claims he was preceded by three “bad priests” who were “big in promoting
the gay lifestyle” before he was ordained as pastor of Resurrection by Cardinal Francis
George in 2007.
The flag was first displayed prominently at the church’s altar in 1991
to welcome LGBTQ worshippers to the faith, according to Kalchik,
but it was later taken down and put into
storage — along with priestly vestments and candles emblazoned with rainbow colors.
Kalchik said he found the vestments and destroyed them when he arrived in 2007,
but somehow missed the flag until another cleaning session last month.
“The people of this parish have been pretty resilient and put up with a lot of B.S.”
Kalchik said in an interview in his office Tuesday night. “And it was just by accident
that this banner that was made to celebrate all things gay … did not get destroyed
when I first
got here.” In a church bulletin dated Sept. 2, Kalchik announced that he planned
to burn
the flag Sept. 29 for “the Feast of Saint Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.” But a few
days later,
the archdiocese told him to scrap the burning after officials were notified of his plans
The priest says the archdiocese threatened him with “canonical penalties” if he went
through with the flag burning, and that Cupich has since blocked Kalchik’s request to
transfer to a diocese in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where Kalchik has family.
Despite the orders from the archdiocese, Kalchik admits he went ahead and destroyed
the flag “in a quiet way” on Friday.
Kalchik — who says he was sexually abused by a neighbor as a child, and again by a priest
when he began working for the church at 19 — says the sex-abuse crisis plaguing the
church is “definitely a gay thing.” Cupich has rejected a connection between the scandal
and gay priests but has drawn criticism in recent weeks for comments claiming the
church should focus on other priorities instead of being “distracted” by
the sex-abuse crisis.
“I can’t sit well with people like Cardinal Cupich, who minimizes all of this,” Kalchik said.
“Excuse me, but almost all of the [abuse] cases are, with respect to priests, bishops and
whatnot, taking and using other young men sexually. It’s definitely a gay thing.”
Of gays in the church, Kalchik says “scripture is crystal-clear. It’s against God’s law.”
As of Tuesday night, Kalchik said the archdiocese had not contacted him since the flag
was torched.
On Sept 21 CHICAGO -- A Chicago priest who burned a gay flag has been removed from his parish in Avondale.
Cardinal Blase Cupich had warned Father Paul Kalchik not to burn the flag.
He did it anyway, and recited a prayer of exorcism.
The Archdiocese released a letter saying that "Father Kalchik needs to take time away from the parish to receive pastoral support
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